Monthly Archives: May 2014

Why the Snowden Hero/Traitor Debate Is Meaningless | Weapons of Mass Distraction – Video

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Why the Snowden Hero/Traitor Debate Is Meaningless | Weapons of Mass Distraction
LIKE Breaking the Set @ http://fb.me/JournalistAbbyMartin FOLLOW Abby Martin @ http://twitter.com/AbbyMartin Abby Martin goes over the NBC news interview with Edward Snowden, discussing how...

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Why the Snowden Hero/Traitor Debate Is Meaningless | Weapons of Mass Distraction - Video

Unprincipled Politicos Attack Edward Snowden After NBC Interview – Video

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Unprincipled Politicos Attack Edward Snowden After NBC Interview
The Young Turks discuss responses from Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Rep. Peter King, and Rep. John Boehner to NBC #39;s interview of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Steve, John and Jimmy...

By: The Young Turks

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Unprincipled Politicos Attack Edward Snowden After NBC Interview - Video

Edward Snowden says he was trained ‘as a spy’ | Reuters

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WASHINGTON Wed May 28, 2014 4:14pm EDT

1 of 3. 'NBC Nightly News' anchor and managing editor Brian Williams (L) sits during an interview with former U.S. defense contractor Edward Snowden in Moscow in this undated handout photo released by NBC News May 28, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/NBC News/Handout via Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked details of massive U.S. intelligence-gathering programs, said in a U.S. TV interview he "was trained as a spy" and had worked undercover overseas for U.S. government agencies.

In an advance excerpt of his interview in Moscow with "NBC Nightly News" that aired on Tuesday, Snowden rejected comments by critics that he was a low-level analyst.

"Well, it's no secret that the U.S. tends to get more and better intelligence out of computers nowadays than they do out of people," Snowden told NBC news anchor Brian Williams.

"I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word in that I lived and worked undercover overseas - pretending to work in a job that I'm not - and even being assigned a name that was not mine."

Describing himself as a "technical expert," Snowden said: "I don't work with people. I don't recruit agents. What I do is I put systems to work for the United States. And I've done that at all levels from - from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top."

He said he worked undercover overseas for both the CIA and NSA and lectured at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy "where I developed sources and methods for keeping our information and people secure in the most hostile and dangerous environments around the world."

"So when they (critics) say I'm a low-level systems administrator, that I don't know what I'm talking about, I'd say it's somewhat misleading," Snowden added.

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Edward Snowden says he was trained 'as a spy' | Reuters

Edward Snowden says email released by NSA is "incomplete"

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WASHINGTON -- Edward Snowden says he repeatedly raised constitutional concerns about National Security Agency surveillance internally, but an NSA search turned up a single email in which Snowden gently asks for "clarification" on a technical legal question about training materials, agency officials said Thursday. Snowden later called the official release of the email "incomplete."

Snowden, a former NSA systems administrator whose leaks have exposed some of the agency's most sensitive spying operations, called himself a patriot in an interview this week with NBC News' Brian Williams. He said he felt he had no choice but to expose what he considered illegal NSA surveillance by leaking secret details to journalists.

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White House spokesman Jay Carney disputes Edward Snowden's claim that he tried to blow the whistle internally before going public with his leaks ...

NSA officials have said he gained access to some 1.7 million classified documents, though it's not clear how many he removed from the Hawaii facility where he worked as a contractor.

Asked by Williams whether he first raised his qualms with his bosses, he said, "I reported that there were real problems with the way the NSA was interpreting its legal authorities."

On Thursday, NSA released the email they said Snowden appeared to be referring to, which the agency says is the only communication from Snowden it could find raising any concerns. It was dated April 8, 2013, three months after Snowden first reached out to journalists anonymously. Former NSA chief Gen. Keith Alexander said the agency could find no one to whom Snowden voiced concerns verbally either.

In the email to NSA's general counsel's office, Snowden questions an NSA document showing the hierarchy of governing authorities, which appeared to put executive orders on par with federal statutes.

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National Security Advisor Susan Rice speaks with Charlie Rose about NSA leaker Edward Snowden and rejects his claims of not hurting American secu...

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Edward Snowden says email released by NSA is "incomplete"